You’re probably all sick and tired of hearing about rumors of Marvel Studios’ supposed plans for a Black Panther movie. In May, Tambay promised that we wouldn’t address anymore of those rumors until we actually had something much more concrete to report on.

Well, today we kind of do, directly from the horses mouth, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, in a recent sit-down interview with BlackTree TV, while doing press for Thor: The Dark World(published just yesterday), in which he reveals to BlackTree TV’s Jamaal Finkley that a Black Panther movie is “absolutely in development.”

His exact words were:

“In terms of Black Panther, it’s absolutely in development… When you have something as rich as Wakanda and his backstory – and clearly Vibranium’s been introduced in the universe already – I don’t know when it will be exactly, but we certainly have plans to bring him to life some day.”

Of course, some day could be 10 years from now, or it could begin filming next year, for a 2015 release. So while this news doesn’t necessarily give us a timeline, at least we can now absolutely confirm that this is a project that Marvel is committed to making.

You might remember the summer 2012 quote from Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito, who shared the following in a Comic-Con interview with MTV last year, about a potential Black Panther movie:

“He has a lot of the same characteristics of a Captain America: great character, good values… But it’s a little more difficult, maybe, creating [a world like Wakanda]. It’s always easier basing it here. For instance, ‘Iron Man 3’ is rooted right here in Los Angeles and New York. When you bring in other worlds, you’re always faced with those difficulties.”

That drew a lot of criticism from many of you folks who felt that Marvel was simply looking for excuses not to make the movie, arguing that, with today’s technology, creating fictional worlds on film (something that’s done routinely) shouldn’t be a challenge.

But maybe D’Esposito was simply sharing the challenges he felt they faced in getting the world right, and wasn’t suggesting that the project woudn’t be done.

Kevin Feige reassures us of that with today’s revelation.

So now we wait.

Just about every “hot” black actor it seems has thrown their hat in the ring for the role, with fans having their own favorites. Most recently, the rumor was that Chadwick Boseman was at the top of Marvel’s short list for Black Panther. But no official confirmation of that. I wish Black Tree TV would’ve asked him about casting.

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